The Ducks’ first free-agent signing may also be their last, their biggest and their most expected.

Within the first hour of the NHL’s free-agency period, winger Corey Perry signed a five-year, $26.625 million contract that will keep the 23-year-old in Anaheim until 2013.

Both parties had expressed an interest in completing the deal for several months but it wasn’t possible until Tuesday, when the Ducks had enough tagging room for long-term contracts under the salary cap.

“I really wanted to stay in Anaheim,” an enthused Perry said. “It’s home now and I didn’t want to leave here. It’s a great place to play hockey and it just shows how well the organization is run.”

Including an $8 million signing bonus spread over its duration, the contract will pay Perry $4.5 million in 2008-09, then $6.5, $5.375, $5.375 and $4.875 million, respectively, over the final four years.

It matches in sum the five-year extension center Ryan Getzlaf received in November.

A year after the team lost young winger Dustin Penner to the Edmonton Oilers’ offer sheet in the off-season, general manager Brian Burke had a strong desire to keep Perry and Getzlaf together for years.

“From Corey’s standpoint, this organization has given him a chance to succeed and he plays with a pretty good center,” Burke said. “It’s a statement both ways, from ownership that they want to keep their players, and from Perry that he wants to be part of that process.”

In a breakthrough 2007-08 campaign, Perry registered 29 goals and 54 points, was named to the Western Conference All-Star team, and would surely have reached the 30-goal plateau were it not for a lacerated quadriceps tendon that forced him to miss the final 12 regular-season games.

Perry also missed the first three games of the Ducks’ first-round playoff series with Dallas, during which the team went 1-2. He came back to notch two goals and an assist in the final three games and conceded Tuesday that he had been playing in pain.

“It was pretty sore those (first) two (playoff) games, but I wanted to help the team win and you do everything to play in the playoffs,” said Perry, who added that he expects to be fully healthy for training camp in the fall.

Perry’s contract leaves the Ducks with scant room under the $56.7 million NHL salary cap, with some estimates placing them as close as $315,000 below the limit.

While Burke had been working the phones since early Tuesday morning, he said he expected Perry to be the team’s only major signing of the day. The GM said that neither Teemu Selanne nor his agent, Don Baizley, had contacted him regarding the status of the Ducks’ all-time leading scorer.

Selanne, who became a free agent Tuesday, is believed to be in his native Finland contemplating retirement. Asked if the team would sacrifice cap room for Selanne to sign or trade for another player, Burke said, “Yeah. … Teemu’s camp is well aware of that. If a deal comes across the desk in an hour that locks up the cap, we’ll do it.”

However, Burke said he’s more likely to bide his time while this year’s marquee free agents – including forward Marian Hossa and defenseman Brian Campbell – are snapped up, and may try to fill the team’s holes via trade.

The Ducks would like to secure a second-line center and forward before training camp begins in September.

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